State tourney begins Friday at Berkeley Field

Monday

Jul 19, 2010 at 11:14 PM

By DEAN HENSLEYTimes-News Staff Writer

Baseball fans are in for a treat this weekend as historic Berkeley Field hosts the Babe Ruth/Cal Ripken 13-and-under State Championship tournament, which begins at 2:30 p.m. Friday and culminates with the championship on Monday.The hometown Henderson County All-Stars will take the field at 7 p.m. Friday to face Stewards of the Game, a team out of Hickory, in the first round of the double-elimination tournament."We feel like we've got a pretty tough draw," Henderson County assistant coach Lyn Milner said. "The Stewards are a tough team, but any time you get to the state tournament, there's not going to be a bad team out there."Sandwiched in between the opening game (Surry County vs. Union National) and the nightcap is a 4:45 p.m. game between St. Stephens and Union American, last year's state champion.Saturday's second round consists of five games: 11 a.m., 1:15 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sunday's semifinal round will have three games: 2 p.m., 4:15 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.Monday's championship game is at 6 p.m., and if another is game needed, it will start around 8:15 p.m.Cost for admission is $7 each day.The last time Berkeley Field hosted the Babe Ruth/Cal Ripken State Championship was two years ago.Milner said the players and the community pitched in over the weekend to get the field in tip-top shape."We were out there for 6½ hours working on the field. Everyone did a great job," Milner said. "B.J. Redden with Redden Home Builders was invaluable to us. He brought a Bobcat out there and did a lot of work. He spent a lot of his own money, too, so we can't thank him enough."The Henderson County team's head coach is Tony Bivens, and he's assisted by Milner and Joey Rhodes, the pitching coach who once pitched in the Baltimore Orioles organization.